Exciting News

... well for us anyway! We just found out that Girish, (Mick's best friend) Pranjali and their little girl Priya will be living in England in 2009! They're not going over until August and will stay for 12 months from then but we are really excited. They are currently living in Canberra so we haven't seen them for a while, it will be great to catch up and see some sites together.  Girish got a job in Cambridge, which is a little North of London and apparently about 300km from Taunton. I'm sure we will be making that trip a few times!! Anyway, it will be nice to look forward to them coming over once we are there... not long to go for us now! 

Here's a photo of our great friends. 

Why does the book pile beside my bed keep growing?

I have so many books to read... all of which I have started but not finished! It's kinda hard when you get a bit of a pile happening of books you have already started... you can't put them back because you haven't finished them, but you have such a pile going that when you get a chance to do some reading it's too hard deciding which one to continue with that you end up going and finding something else to do!!! (Like blogging about them!)

8 Mighty Changes God Wants for You Before you Get to Heaven is such an easy book to read, it keeps things simple and helps you understand ways in which you can change your everyday life by doing things just a little different. I feel inspired after I read it and have more faith to keep going with the everyday things we do that sometimes get a little monotonous - prayer, scripture study, obedience. 

1-2-3 Magic is actually Blanches book so I need to hurry up and finish it. I have read the first part, which is all about 'stop behaviour' and 'controlling obnoxious behaviour' it is great and the best parent-help book I have read. It has helped me heaps, and really is 123 magic - although I am not magic all the time because I forget to follow the rules but most of the time, when I follow the rules it's great. I am struggling to read part 2 - which is all about 'start behaviour' (getting your kids to DO things without nagging). I'm excited to read it - but it's just not happening!!

Lonely Planet Great Britain became a favourite for a few weeks because I wanted to learn about where I am going and don't want to look and sound like a loser when I get there - asking questions like... so are you English or British? Don't really know if you can lose the loser factor just by reading a book - but thought it was worth a try! 

Jane Austin Sense and Sensibility is the only Jane Austin classic I have left. I ended up watching most of them because it was quicker and easier. But would like to read this one. However I don't know when I will because it is really hard to get in to - I have tried a few times!! I'm sure once I get going I will love it like most of the others! 

The Book Of Mormon Made Easier is always on the go, should be read a little more often, but the pages do get turned every now and again! I really enjoy reading these 'made easier' versions, (even though they take way longer) because you can learn so much more from each verse. 

I'm also on the list to read Elles Birthday books -The 'Twilight' series I think aren't they El? Don't know when they will get to me though - I think Mum gobbled them up after Elle, and I haven't seen them since! Guess I shouldn't start something else anyway!!  

Can we go the the beach today Mum? Can we go to the pool today Mum?

All Lani wants to do lately is go the the beach or the pool! 

She loves the sand at the beach, the digging, building and searching we do there. She also likes the swing, and so do I!  It's relaxing pushing her on the swing at Kingston beach - looking out to sea. It's a beautiful view and Lani and Emily would stay there for hours if I had the time. 

We have been to the pool twice in 4 days this week and Lani and Emily are both loving it. Lani is very brave in the water and learning new things very quickly. Here they are in their matching swimmers.... and yes they are both size 2 bathers! (It was great when Meea gave us her pair the same as Lani's!!) It's weird when they are wearing the same size!!! 

Today We Got A Sign!

Our 'For Sale' sign went up today... it seems so odd looking out the window at it! But something that is even more odd is logging onto robertsrealestate.com and finding pictures of your house on there! I feel like I have no privacy and everyone now knows everything about me! I know that's not true - but that's kinda how I felt at first! Anyway... more thoughts on the house selling stuff later, if you want to have a sticky beak at our abode click here!

Highschool Reunion

So a few months ago I did the noble thing and decided I should get our SRC members together and organise our 10 year Highschool Reunion. After lots of contact with them via email those that were around (from our SRC) decided to meet up for a chat. It ended up being just 3 of us - (out of 6)  and we did more catching up on each other than organising the reunion, but we had a really great night together anyway. So a few months later, after lots of planning and organising here I am trying to get these invites out to 100 old school mates. It's hard work! I would have no hope without facebook - so I have spent many hours on there over the past few days... I'm so grateful for facebook! But there are still quite a few I need to track down. It's fun though - catching up with everyone and trying to work out where they all live now and what they're doing. I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone - lets just hope I can get these invites out in time!! 

Nan's 80th Birthday

Photo stolen from The Carmichael Story!

On Saturday 11th October we celebrated my Nan's 80th birthday on Bruny Island. It was a beautiful day and absolutely perfect for sitting around at a BBQ catching up with family. It was really nice to spend time with the Carmichael Family as we don't see each other a lot. Dad did a great job helping Nan & Bill organise everything and wrote Nan a great poem. (If you didn't already know, he is quite a good writer!) He also spent many hours collecting photos and videos for the DVD Leigh made for her. Which was really really good, Leigh put such a lot of effort into it and it showed.  They both did a great job with it and it told a wonderful story about Nan and her past 80 years of life.

Leigh and Ange have lots of great photos of the event on their blog... here's just a couple I stole from them... 

Kaszazz Party

A few weeks ago I went to Sarah's Kaszazz Party (Scrap, Stamp, Embellish). I was quite impressed with there wide range of things and thought the prices were pretty good too, so I booked a party for myself. It was a little stressful getting people to come - I really don't like having party's because I don't like people thinking they have to buy stuff - but I'm glad I did have it and I think we had a good night. Thanks for coming everyone. It has been the push I have needed to get back into scrapping. And I did get lots of freebies to, which is always a nice bonus!

I spent the next few evenings making this little album that I bought at Sarah's party. The kit was $20.00 and came with everything you needed except glue and photos! I thought that was pretty good, and I'm really happy with it. 

It felt so good to be scrapping again I even did a couple of pages for my album! 

I think our orders from my party arrive tomorrow by the way - so I'm very excited about that. Feels a little like Christmas - yes I did order quite a bit!! Luckily Mick was very nice about it when I told him I had a confession about how much I spent! He's a good man! 

Flight status - CONFIRMED

Wednesday 8th October was a very exciting night because we booked our tickets!! So there's no turning back now. The money is gone! It was quite a stressful day for me because I made an appointment to go back to the travel agent to see if the flights were still available at the same price she quoted me about 6 weeks ago, only to find out they were not! I was quite upset and didn't really know what to say as the total had risen by over $1000.00. It seemed that we had missed out on the Air New Zealand sale and would now have to fly with someone else at a higher price. She gave me 2 options and I wasn't really impressed with either. "Is that all there is?" I kept saying... "So we have no other options?" "That's all there is" she would say. So I left, thinking that it all sucked and wondered what the hell I was going to do now!! 

But when the kids went to bed that night and I sat down on my computer - I became a very happy young lady! (I am still a young lady aren't I!?) 

I spent a VERY long time searching and finally got some very good results! At first I was happy because I found flights on Air New Zealand for the same price she quoted me with United (Air New Zealand is who we wanted to fly with if possible). Then I became even happier because I found the same flights a few hundred dollars cheaper (just by changing our departure date a few times) and then I was ecstatic when I got the price down by over $1000.00 just by changing our return date (which we will have to change later anyway!) So the price was back down to our original quoted & budgeted price!! Although it was actually even cheaper because I wouldn't have to pay the travel agent fees and credit card surcharge by purchasing them online! I was over the moon!! I did however feel very nervous booking them online because if I stuffed it up I was in BIG trouble!!! 

All went well though - as far as I know - and we are very excited to have our tickets. Not so excited to part with our money but I guess we can always get more of that!!!! 

So FYI.... (for anyone that cares!) 

We are flying from Melbourne to LA via Auckland on the 14th January where we will spend a week with Laura, Mark and new bub in Colorado Springs. We then fly to London arriving on Wednesday 21st Jan, which gives a few days before Mick has to start work on the 26th January. Very exciting! Can't believe how soon it is though! So much to do! I'm really looking forward to seeing Laura though and spending some time with her and Mark and the little boy bub!

I think Lani is quite excited to go too - she obviously doesn't really understand what's going to happen but she knows we are moving to 'England' or 'another place' after Christmas and with all the Christmas stuff out in the shops now I think she has been thinking about it all because the other night she said in her prayers "Please help Christmas to hurry up" and tonight before bed she was very concerned about what we would be doing tomorrow and asked Mick "Can we move tomorrow?" when he told her that we have to wait until after Christmas to move she said "but is Christmas coming soon?" It was quite funny! You forget how much they think about things. 

I was reading a book the other night, written by D. Kelly Ogden, and it was talking about how besides the Saviour and his prophets, little children are our best examples of how to pray. They say just whatever comes into their minds and hearts, and whatever they are thinking of at the time - which is sometimes quite funny - but this is how we should speak to our Heavenly Father - from our hearts instead of getting caught up in standard cliches and vain repetitions. When Lani asked Heavenly Father to help Christmas hurry up, I was reminded of what I read in this book, and that we need to pray about what's on our minds. 

I'm really grateful for the following quote because I think about prayer quite often and what it means to pray...

"Heavenly Father knows what we are grateful for and what we need before we even kneel down. He does not necessarily need to hear it, but we need to say it. We need to express ourselves to him verbally - frequently and regularly. But we should do it from our hearts."

I think that sometimes things are going to happen - whether we pray for them or not, and whether we want them to or not, but when we pour out our hearts in prayer to our Father in Heaven we will be more prepared for them when they do happen. 

At Meea's Fairy/Barbie Party...

So I started blogging this post 2 weeks ago and have only just got around to finishing it - so it's all old news now, but I want to keep everything in chronological order as much as possible for my own records - yes I have lots of catching up to do! Sorry if you have already heard about our wonderful day at Meea's birthday party from somewhere else! 

Here is the birthday girl... she looked so cute and grown up! We love you Meea! 

Look at these cute kids... they were pulling faces and laughing at each other! They are so lucky to have each other as cousins!

How cute are these two fairies in the garden - I think they were telling fairy secrets!!??

I found 2 little fairies playing on the tramp - they would love their own trampoline... one day girls!!

Girls being girls!!! Meea got this very cool makeup desk for her birthday - the girls had a great time! Lani looks like a pro with the lip rubbing and mascara! 

Jaclyn helped all the kids make special fairy wands... Lani was very proud of hers!

Brady kept an eye on everything - he knew what was going on! I think he really wanted to dress up as a fairy too! Come on mum - I am a big 1 year old now!!

And our youngest little Fairy was baby Halle - isn't she just perfect!!

Fairies in the Garden

We had two little fairies in our garden on Saturday, they were off to Meea's 3rd birthday party! 

Lani and Zac

Lani loves babies at the moment and was very happy to have a hold of baby Zac when he came to visit on Thursday morning - Emily looks quite pleased there too!!!

Clean Windows, Green Grass and the Rain

3 things that I love are clean windows, green grass and the rain pouring down after a hot day. On Thursday afternoon we started cleaning the windows, they badly needed doing so I was happy to finally get the chance to start them. On Friday we did a few more and even though I still have a few to go, I feel good that most of them are done and I just want to look out of them all day long!! When Mick came home he said they looked great and was quite pleased...  until I started going on about how much I love clean windows and how great they look that he said If I love them that much maybe I need to get out more - mmm.... maybe he's right!!

 When it started raining on Friday I was kinda disappointed at first because I was hoping to get out in the garden but when it started pouring I began to really enjoy it. It felt like rain at the end of one of those really hot days - I guess because it had been warm the previous few days it didn't seem so bad. I love hearing and watching the rain sometimes, pouring down on the bright green grass, especially when the lawns are newly mowed and you get that real clean, fresh feel/smell - like the earth is having a good shower! It feels good to be inside on these days!   

Time Out of the House

We have been very busy this week catching up with friends. On Monday morning we went around to Emma's to see Becky, who was down from up north. The kids had a good time playing and Emma, Mel, Becky and I had a nice chat. Yesterday we stopped in to see Sarah, Taj and Owen. We are really going to miss them when they move to Launceston. The girls had a fun time playing with Taj, drinking milk and creating things from playdoh! Owen was a little rude and went in for a big nap not long after we got there! But he came out to give us lots of cheeky smiles and wave goodbye, so we forgave him! 

Today we were out and about again, what a perfect day for it too, the weather was beautiful. We went on the RS walk to warm up and then meet Nikki and Livy at the park for lunch and a play. I was exhausted when we got home but decided to get the ironing done and then head out and mow the lawn - well, field of grass. I knew I would be kicking myself if I didn't do it and then it rained for the rest of the week! So I'm glad it's done.

 

Tomorrow  we have Ange, Locke and Zak coming to visit (I think) in the morning and then we are heading out with Blanche to do some visiting in the arvo. What a busy, but fun week. It's been nice because last week was a not so good one. But we need them too sometimes.

I didn't take any pictures on Monday or Tuesday but snapped away a little bit today. 

Livy is so cute, and even more so with her new hair cut! We love her so much! The girls played really well together today so it was fun to watch.